1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to an LED lighting apparatus, and more particularly, to a control circuit of an LED lighting apparatus with a dimming control function.
2. Related Art
According to the recent trend of lighting technology, LEDs have been employed as light sources in order to reduce energy.
A high-brightness LED is differentiated from other light sources in terms of various aspects such as energy consumption, lifetime, and light quality.
However, a lighting apparatus using an LED as a light source requires a large number of additional circuits due to the characteristic of the LED which is driven by a constant current.
Examples of lighting apparatuses which have been developed to solve the above-described problem may include an AC direct-type lighting apparatus.
The AC direct-type LED lighting apparatus generates a rectified voltage from commercial AC power and drives an LED. Since the AC direct-type LED lighting apparatus directly uses the rectified voltage as an input voltage without using an inductor and a capacitor, the AC direct-type LED lighting apparatus has a satisfactory power factor. Hereafter, an LED lighting apparatus in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention refers to an AC direct-type LED lighting apparatus unless specifically described.
A general LED lighting apparatus is designed to be driven through a rectified voltage obtained by rectifying commercial power.
An LED lamp of the LED lighting apparatus generally includes a large number of LEDs connected in series.
Thus, the LED lighting apparatus is configured to provide a rectified voltage capable of turning on a large number of LEDs connected in series.
In general, the LED lighting apparatus may use a dimmer to control dimming.
Recently, as the technology related to the LED lighting apparatus is developed, various functions have been required to consider the convenience for use.
In particular, the LED lighting apparatus requires a function of additionally controlling dimming, in addition to a dimming control method using a dimmer.
Therefore, since the conventional LED lighting apparatus can control dimming through various methods, the LED lighting apparatus can improve the convenience and satisfaction of users. Thus, a function capable of improving the reliability of products needs to be developed.
Furthermore, the demand for large-capacity LED lighting apparatuses has gradually increased. However, when an LED lighting apparatus is manufactured with a large capacity, a large amount of current may flow into a chip forming a control unit which controls a current of a lamp.
When a large amount of current flows into the chip forming the control unit, excessive heat may be generated from the chip, and thus have an influence on a voltage for driving the lamp. In this case, the reliability of the product may be degraded due to the thermal stress.
Therefore, when the LED lighting apparatus is manufactured with a large capacity, the chip forming the control unit for controlling a current needs to be designed to control a heating problem.